Friendship
Friendship.
This is where the church is going. This is what the body truly is:
John 15:14-15 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Being a friend of Jesus should change who I am and how I treat others. Jesus sees everything. In the world, I can move from "friend" to "friend" if it suits me. But, this won't work in the kingdom of selflessness. Jesus is judging at a deeper level. Every word will have to be accounted for.
Matthew 12:36-37 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (37) For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
If I say I am Jesus' friend, then, in truth, I need to be a friend to his friends.
Matthew 22:11-14 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. (12) So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. (13) Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (14) "For many are called, but few are chosen."
A bride is the closest friend. A bride commits to her beloved in sickness, health, wealth, poverty.... A prostitute pretends to be a close friend, as long as there is somethign in it for them. When trouble comes, or payment is not given, the relationship is over.
John 10:12-13 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. (13) The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
Its important to know what kind of friend I really am, what kind of friend Jesus is, and who is really a friend of his and mine...If I am building with precious stones, then I am building relationships that will last forever. I commit to "stay in it" as long as the other person does. This is rare in the Church. That is all going to change. In fact, it is changing right now. Friends and Babylon are both being gathered together. Wheat and tares are being separated. Unity doesn't mean friendship.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (6) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part. (10) But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. (11) When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (12) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. (13) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
This is where the church is going. This is what the body truly is:
John 15:14-15 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Being a friend of Jesus should change who I am and how I treat others. Jesus sees everything. In the world, I can move from "friend" to "friend" if it suits me. But, this won't work in the kingdom of selflessness. Jesus is judging at a deeper level. Every word will have to be accounted for.
Matthew 12:36-37 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (37) For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
If I say I am Jesus' friend, then, in truth, I need to be a friend to his friends.
Matthew 22:11-14 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. (12) So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. (13) Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (14) "For many are called, but few are chosen."
A bride is the closest friend. A bride commits to her beloved in sickness, health, wealth, poverty.... A prostitute pretends to be a close friend, as long as there is somethign in it for them. When trouble comes, or payment is not given, the relationship is over.
John 10:12-13 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. (13) The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
Its important to know what kind of friend I really am, what kind of friend Jesus is, and who is really a friend of his and mine...If I am building with precious stones, then I am building relationships that will last forever. I commit to "stay in it" as long as the other person does. This is rare in the Church. That is all going to change. In fact, it is changing right now. Friends and Babylon are both being gathered together. Wheat and tares are being separated. Unity doesn't mean friendship.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (6) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part. (10) But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. (11) When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (12) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. (13) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
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